Prop. 23 is a hot potato for state GOP: confusion reigns on endorsement

One day after GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman said she’s unlikely to support Prop. 23, the controversial November ballot measure, the California Republican Party issued a statement today saying it may not take position on it — even though the GOP endorsed the measure earlier this year.

The move set off a tremor after Prop. 23 proponents noted that the exact wording of the ballot measure — minus the numbered title, which hadn’t yet been decided on — was overwhelmingly endorsed by party members when the state GOP met at its Santa Clara spring convention. “The party endorsed it 100 percent,” said Assemblyman Dan Logue, author of Prop. 23 told us.

He was reacting to a statement we received earlier today from the new CRP spokeswoman Crystal Feldman: “Meg Whitman and the CRP agree that the governor should invoke the one year suspension clause of AB 32. The CRP will not have an official position on Prop. 23 — or any of the measures on the November ballot — until the membership votes on them at our Fall Convention.”

“She obviously does not know that the delegates have already have voted to support Prop. 23,” said Mike Spence, chair of the CRP initiatives committee, who also confirmed the measure got the nod from Republicans in committee and on the floor in Santa Clara.

Brian Seitchik, the new communications consultant to Republican party, said the statement was released because “there was a misunderstanding with regard to what the party had done earlier,” since Prop. 23 was not properly titled at that point. He stressed that that the party does officially support Prop. 23, but also said “both the CRP and (Meg Whitman)support the suspension of AB32.”

The GOP gubernatorial candidate, who has been sharply critical of the state’s climate change bill AB32 as a “job killer” — said that “in all likelihood,” she will vote against Prop. 23. That measure on the November ballot would suspend AB32 until unemployment rates drop to near 5 percent for four consecutive quarters; Whitman has called for a moratorium on AB32 to further study it.